Pick Your Poison: Or Be Poisoned
by Lana Archer
Summary: A story of Bonnie Bennett, Rebekah Mikaelson and Katherine Gilbert as they face the wicked world of scandalous Mystic Falls together. Three best friends, two scorned Salvatore boys and a deranged Elena Gilbert all form part of a treasure trove of secrets that may very well drive them all to the brink. Re-written and rebooted. Enjoy! All human


**Summary: **Some of you might notice that this is a rewrite. I've changed a few things here and there with it so it's more cohesive and comprehensive, I wasn't happy with the way it was and there was a fair share of confusion surrounding certain things. The premise of the story remains the same; it will be as crude and scandalous as the original – if not _more_. It still starts off with Rebekah, Katherine and Bonnie being best friends, a history between Bonnie and Caroline and Elena with the Salvatore brothers mixed in for good measure. _Goody_.

**Pairings: **The only pairing I can guarantee outside of the friendship with the three girls is Bamon. Katherine and Stefan I'm unsure of and Rebekah deserves the very best and I've yet to decide who is worthy so I'm open to suggestions.

**Extra cast: **Lafayette from _True Blood_, Caleb Danvers and Pogue Parry from _The Covenant_ are in this as they were in the original too and there will be random inclusions of other favourite characters of mine but they're mostly background noise in any case.

**Note: **If you're not a fan of excessive swearing I suggest you look elsewhere. Also themes of recreational drug use, as well as drug-abuse and emotional abuse are in here but I try to handle it with a quick sense of humour, maturity and resilience like I try to approach most things in life. If you don't like it then I don't know what to tell you…

Without further ado

* * *

><p><strong>Everything Is Not As It Seems<strong>

If you were looking from the outside in it was almost guaranteed that you'd be overcome with jealousy. The three of them stood tall as they walked into Tyler Lockwood's party, escorted by the boy himself. The girl in the middle; Rebekah Mikaelson was the tallest, her platinum blonde hair hanging low and straight as she pursed her full lips appreciatively at the debauchery on display in front of her. To her right stood one of the Gilbert twins, the 'wicked' one; Katherine whose hair hung in thick voluminous curls framing her forever-smirking face as her eyes glittered with mischief. To Rebekah's left stood Bonnie Bennett. Her hair had been chopped into an asymmetrical bob and dyed a jarring blonde that offset her soft caramel complexion beautifully. They were all dressed with an understated elegance, belying their wealth and status. They were after all the infamous 'Trio' of Mystic Falls. Their families founded the establishment of the town and had an impressive hold in the rest of Virginia as well, choosing to have the three daughters grow up in a small town to try and instil at least a _fraction_ of modesty in them (not that it had worked). Rebekah had been sent away to boarding school for a while after an incident with a fire extinguisher but she'd fought long and hard to be returned to her home town – to her girls. They were celebrating her official re-enrolment at Robert E Lee with one of Tyler Lockwood's impressive house parties. The crowd cheered as the girls came into view and Rebekah giggled, wiggling her fingers at the popular crowd; the football team and the cheerleaders, their second in command. The three of them looked to one another and nodded, walking headlong into the throng of teenagers.

Katherine had barely made it through the rounds of hugs and cheek-kisses when Stefan had her by her elbow and pulled her away from everyone. Frowning she jerked out of his hold and scowled up at him. Stefan's annoyed expression turned to one of exasperation when Bonnie and Rebekah appeared behind their best friend; flanking her with matching surly faces.

"_**What**_ Stefan?" Katherine snapped, she didn't have time for this, as far as she was concerned she was single…being stood up at _The Grille_ of all places was more than enough of a message for her that Stefan had somehow managed to lose interest.

"Why are you here?" the boy asked, not even bothering to greet her friends, they were impossible to be cordial with when they were looking at him the way they were now. And they were notoriously volatile and he'd spent _too_ long on his hair to have it mussed up by her seething sycophants. As if they'd rehearsed it all their lives for this very moment the three girls crossed their arms and lifted their left brow. Stefan supposed that happened what with them growing up with one another. He'd been told that he himself had inherited his sly smirk from his brother, along with his insatiable appetite when it came to woman. Something he and Damon had both put aside for the likes of Katherine and Bonnie.

"I'm here to party Sheriff," Katherine said with that cold coyness that she usually employed with cute strangers, not her boyfriend, "What's it to you?" Stefan sneered.

"I thought we fucking _spoke_ about this?" His hissed, watching as the Trio's eyes widened at his sudden burst of anger, "Don't give me that face," he snapped making sure to keep his eyes on Katherine, "You said you'd stop drinking so much." Katherine snorted and looked at him like he'd confessed to having a mental imbalance, hence his sudden absurd attitude.

"Was this _before_ or _after_ you stood me up at The Grille?" the brunette hissed, her dark brown eyes, narrowing with a danger that had nothing to do with her sex appeal. Stefan snapped his mouth shut as his retort died on his lips; he hadn't expected those words to come out of her mouth.

"I _didn't_ stand you up at The Grille," he hissed tiredly, leaning into her, confused when she shoved him away with a swift force, "I didn't!" he insisted.

"Yeah?" Katherine snapped, trying to stay composed, "Then explain I waited there for you for _two hours_ like a fucking _moron_!" Stefan's brows furrowed as he scoured her face; Katherine was as a good a liar as he was but he knew her and he knew she wasn't lying now. As impossible as it seemed. And it was impossible because he hadn't stood her up…in _fact_…

"Katherine you were waiting _outside_ for me when I got there –"

"I was _sitting_ in our usual booth –" she interrupted.

"We took my _bike_? –" Stefan pressed on.

"I _waited_ for you –" She snarled. Bonnie gasped suddenly and the drink in her hand fell. The arguing couple turned to face her as her mouth hung open in quiet horror. She'd only been half-listening to their bickering, as outdated as it was at this point when something occurred to her. A fight she'd had with Damon all those months ago…something she hadn't told anyone…even now she could still remember the feeling of blinding rage that had lanced through her chest as she watched Elena lean in to kiss her boyfriend at the time. He'd pushed the snivelling Gilbert away, thank goodness, but it had done little to quell Bonnie's hysteria and Damon ended up having to throw her over his shoulder and drive her home after she tried to throttle Elena. How no one had seen it all go down still boggled Bonnie's mind. But it was that memory that dredged up the profound knowledge that not only did Elena have a boner for playing the victim in any given scenario but she also had a _thing_ for things that weren't _hers_. Stefan being one of them, apparently. The fact that Elena hated her twin sister seemed to only encourage Bonnie's theory.

"What?" Katherine asked, her tone soft as she looked at Bonnie who looked lost somewhere between trepidation and repulsion. The other three watched as Bonnie's mouth opened and closed before she blinked and frowned and looked at Stefan. She knew he was a slimy piece of shit on a good day but he cared about Katherine and even _he_ wasn't dumb enough to try and sell her this type of lie without believing it himself…which, only fuelled Bonnie's theory even more.

"Oh god." Bonnie breathed, her head spinning around to where Elena stood, laughing boisterously at something her boyfriend Matt Donovan had said while one of her hands trailed down his chest as she smiled shyly at him. Would Elena really stoop that _low_? Rebekah followed her gaze, as did Stefan and Katherine and slowly and then suddenly all at once it clicked into place. Rebekah cursed under her breath while Stefan seemed to turn to stone. Katherine was still too, almost _too_ still in fact before she burst into a brisk stride, heading straight for her sister. Rebekah and Bonnie were hot on her heels but even they were too late to stop Katherine from smacking the snot out of Elena with a loud crack that managed to make its way through the crowd of people; music and all. The world slowed and people all turned around and watched as Rebekah pulled Katherine away who was screeching inchorently. Bonnie just stood there, glaring at Elena like she couldn't quite fathom her. "…Did you do it?" Bonnie spat, ignoring Katherine who was literally kicking and screaming at this point while Stefan pulled her away. Rebekah came to stand behind the green eyed girl.

"…Do what?" Elena stammered as she clutched her burning cheek and Bonnie's sneer turned to an outright snarl as her hand flashed out to grab Elena by the throat. Letting out a growl Bonnie let Elena go not a moment later, she didn't want to end up in a police car or some bullshit.

"Fuck _Stefan_!" Bonnie screamed. Elena's face drained of all colour then and Bonnie could feel someone else come to stand behind her, their arm inching further and further around her waist. She hissed angrily and shoved Damon's hand off of her and took a threatening step towards Elena, "What is _wrong_ with you? You don't see how utterly screwed up you're acting…if this is about what happened between us –"

"Enough!" Damon barked, pulling at Bonnie but she elbowed him in the stomach and got right up in Elena's face.

"I may have let it slide when you shat on our friendship but you should have known better than to hurt someone I love." Bonnie was lifted up then, in Damon's arms and carried off like she was a raincoat, hitting at his hands all the while. Bonnie's eyes darted around the immediate area, catching when Katherine slapped Stefan even harder than she had Elena and running upstairs, tears falling freely. "_Let_, _**me**_ – **go**!" Bonnie screamed and Damon put her down. "…_Asshole_!" she spat and went after her friend after shoving him away from her.

"Kat!" Bonnie yelled, Rebekah falling in line with her as they searched the second floor of the Lockwood estate, "Katerina!" Bonnie screamed, using her full name, "Kat, shit, come on girl, we're _trying_!"

"In here!" Rebekah called and they both half fell into the library room where Katherine was slumped in a corner, face in her hands – sobbing. Bonnie's heart broke at the sight of her; the girl talked a good talk but she was made out of mush like the rest of them, and her mush had been ripped out of her chest and thrown to the floor for everyone to see.

"_Katherine_." Bonnie whispered, trying to swallow the sob that threatened to choke her as Katherine lifted her face up to look at her friends. Her make-up had been spoiled and she'd obviously been tugging relentlessly at her hair in fury, her mouth trembling as she wiped at her face with the back of her hand. "I'm _so_ sorry." They descended on their brunette friend, cocooning her in their arms. She cried for a good few minutes before shooing them off of her.

"What's the plan?" Rebekah asked as she dug around in her purse, holding out a small pack of wet wipes moments later to Katherine who was trying to even out her breathing. The blondes were sitting with their legs folded underneath them as Katherine sat with her long legs out in front of her. Katherine sighed as she used a compact mirror to clean her face and then quickly began fixing her make-up with her emergency product in her clutch. Bonnie handed her eyeliner and fixed her own lip gloss and fluffed her while she waited.

"Whatever you want," Bonnie reminded Kat – they'd had the rule for years, if there was a state of emergency, like now, the girl who it affected could do whatever she liked for the first twenty-four hours and the other two damn well fell in line with whatever the plan was, the 'talk' only happened once the hours were up and then they all huddled together and fixed whatever it was – it was friendship at its best really, "We can cry to Nicholas Sparks movies with ice cream and whiskey at my house, get shit-faced and make-out with the football team, whatever you want." Katherine dropped everything back into her clutch and stood to her feet daintily, tossing the used wipes into a nearby bin.

"I want to get drunk and have a great night with my girls," Katherine said once she turned to face her two best friends, "It's Rebekah's night and I'm not letting Elena or Stefan ruin that. Fuck them."

"_**Fuck**_ them." Bonnie and Rebekah agreed, hopping to their feet.

* * *

><p>When they made their way back downstairs none of the usual suspects where in sight. Matt had obviously left to go cry himself to sleep, Elena and Stefan could be duking outside with only Caroline to stop them, Damon was no doubt slithering around in the dark somewhere with some girl…and Tyler was –<p>

"_Hey_ pretty lady." The boy in question breathed into Bonnie's ear as he snuck up behind her. She smiled as politely as she could but she pulled away from him all the same.

"No can do Lockwood," Bonnie said, barely sounding contrite, "I'm on best friend duty."

"You're _always_ on best friend duty." He pouted. Katherine snorted and shoved between them.

"We're all always on best friend duty," she said, flicking his nose, "_Hence_ us being best friends…come on Bex I spot a few rounds of tequila with all our names on them." She looked back to Tyler, "You can join too if you know how to keep your hands to yourself." Tyler raised his palms out and laughed.

"I'll pass, I've seen that look before, it was the last thing I remembered before waking up in a holding cell with Care's mom glaring at me."

"Daddy must have been proud." Rebekah laughed, patting his cheek as they walked passed him. Not even an hour later had the Trio all succumb to the madness of the atmosphere of the party that had thankfully survived the "Gilbert Gauntlet" as it had already been dubbed. Bonnie was all smiles as she passed the joint in her hands to Rebekah while handing a fresh one to Katherine.

"You _spoil_ me." The Gilbert girl cooed affectionately with a wink as she lit it up. They did more shots. Danced with more boys. Gossiped with the other girls on the cheer team and gave in to the hype of adolescence. Bonnie got lost in all of it, hands skimming passed her, faces, smiles, teeth, eyes…she couldn't tie any of it together anymore.

"Come on," a voice called to her, an arm caught her as she tripped unsteadily…when had she gotten outside? "I'm taking you home."

"_Nooo_." Bonnie said frowning up at Damon who had the audacity to look like _she_ was crossing a line. She yanked herself out of his hold and turned to the sounds of loud laughter, spotting her friends almost falling into a bush, for some reason, this amused her endlessly and she began to laugh. Tyler came running out of nowhere, his eyes wild and drunk as he came to a skidding halt next to her, throwing his arm around her.

"The driver's coming round to take them home." The Lockwood boy said and Bonnie nodded, because it made sense…he'd said something about getting Rebekah and Katherine home safely, which she remembered, but she couldn't remember why _she_ wasn't going with them.

"She's not staying here with **you**." Damon spat. Bonnie blinked owlishly, so he _was_ standing in front of her. How strange.

"_Bonnie_," Tyler corrected, "Can do _whatever_ and _whoever_ she likes." Damon's face turned to stone and Bonnie stared a little harder, he was prettier when he was mad she decided. Before she could even think to react Damon had Tyler by the throat and gripped him up and pulled him away from Bonnie.

"**Not on my watch**." Damon snarled and threw Tyler into his own bushes, taking a few steps forward and kicking at the boy for good measure. Bonnie only came to life when she heard Tyler groan and she gasped as she watched the parts of him that she could see sticking out of the shrubbery, slump over. She ran forward only to be caught in the vice of Damon's arms and pulled further down the driveway, yelling out in defiance. Damon pressed her up against his Camaro and leaned right into her face. "Fight me on this and the mutt ends up in hospital," he vowed before stepping back and whistling to get the attention of Rebekah and Katherine who seemed to be caught in the midst of some heated slurred debate on breakfast foods. "You two, in the car before I start breaking things." They scoffed at him but followed his direction anyway. Yanking the passenger door open Damon all but shoved Bonnie inside, clicked in her seatbelt and slammed the door. She looked down at herself confused; why was she wearing his leather jacket? Bonnie turned to make sure her friends got in alright and saw Damon handling them as gently as he could while his face remained a mask of rage. Rebekah giggled at him while Katherine patted his cheek and called him a coke-head cock-blocker to which Damon smiled a tight smile, clicked her seatbelt in place and slammed the car door shut. He didn't look at her when he got into the car and the familiar thrumming of the purring engine underneath her coaxed her eyes to fall closed as he tore down the dead streets of Mystic Falls to her house.

* * *

><p><strong>Thoughts?<strong>


End file.
